Winter Wonderland
by Les Phansie
Summary: Jack sees that Crutchie isn't having fun outside with him and the other boys. He decides to give Crutchie the best snow day ever!


**Heyo guys! Les Phansie here. I need a tiny break from** ** _The Other Newsie_** **. I am literally just making it up as I go and "as I may have mentioned I have no clue what I'm doing". I just need some time to think of what is going to happen next, but it will be finished. I'm not the type of person that starts stories to leave them unfinished. I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Oh, and I planned on having this story posted sooner, but my laptop crashed so I had to redo a lot of it. I guess I just had this idea in my mind for a few days, so I needed to write it down. Hope ya'll enjoy!**

Snow. It was everywhere. It covered the entire city in a thick, white blanket. The newsies were excited to get outside, eager to pelt snowballs at each other and catch snowflakes on their tongue. They wanted to sell their papers as soon as possible so they could spend of it having fun. After a quick round of Dodge the Snowball, a game in which all of the newsies gained up on one boy who tried to successfully dodge them all, they arrived at the Circulation Gate to find Mr. Weisel talking to the Delancey brothers.

"Hey! Where's all the papers?" asked Jack, looking around. No papers were in sight.

"The wagons got backed up, so looks like you guys have a day of," Mr. Weisel said a little too glumly.

The newsies just smiled and erupted into cheers. They now could spend the whole day having fun! Mr. Weisel and the Delancey's walked off, leaving the boys and covering their ears from the loud cheers.

"So," asked Albert. "What should we do first?"

"More Dodge the Snowball! Romeo's going first!" cried out Race.

"No way! I was first last time!" argued Romeo.

Race snickered. "Nah, I said it first." He picked up a handful of snow, took off Romeo's hat, and plopped the snow on his head.

"Hey" Romeo chased after Race, snowball in hand, with the rest of the boys close behind. Well, almost all the boys. Crutchie stayed behind and leaned on the gate watching.

Jack noticed and wanted the younger boy to get in on the fun. He threw a small snowball in his direction to get his attention. "Ya coming Crutch?"

"Nah," replied Crutchie, absentmindedly drawing in the snow with his crutch.

"C'mon Crutchie, everyone else is doing it."

"I said I don't wanna, I'm just gonna go back to the Lodging House."

Jack frowned and turned around to throw a snowball at Romeo, who had still managed to be first despite his pleading. He knew why Crutchie immediately refused to join in on the fun and he couldn't blame him. Crutchie has never had good experiences with snow. It always made his leg feel more stiff than usual. One time, one of the boys threw a snowball at Crutchie, who was definitely not expecting it. He lost his balance, resulting in a sprained wrist. He had gotten stuck out in a blizzard or two. He had gotten frostbite one too many times and often slipped on the ice. Because of this, Crutchie tended to stay away from snow-related activies.

Jack couldn't stand it any longer. His brother wasn't having a good time like the rest of them. Jack was determined to give Crutchie the best snow day ever, whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Crutchie entered the Lodging House. He grabbed a well-used book and sat in a chair. He sighed; he really did want to have fun outside with the rest of the boys, but he would end up hurt or sick, like what always happened. Crutchie didn't even notice Jack come in until the book was ripped from his hands.

"C'mon Crutch, you can't hide inside forever," Jack said, putting the book back on the shelf that was just out of Crutchie's reach.

"Hey! Give it back!" Crutchie tried to grab it but almost fell from the chair.

"Not until you come outside with me." Jack sat in another chair.

Crutchie was tired of having people constantly ask him to come out in the snow. "Look Jack, I just don't wanna, ok. And why did you come back? Weren't ya playing Dodge the Snowball"

"Yeah, it was almost my turn to dodge'em, so I left. I don't really like the feeling of being attacked by everyone." Crutchie felt the same way. The boys obviously weren't physically attacking him, but he felt attacked by all of their offers to come join and he was tired of it. He didn't want to admit to anyone that he, in a way, was scared of the snow. He thought he would never hear the end of it.

"How many times do I gotta tell ya, I'm not coming out," said Crutchie.

"I'm not leaving until ya come out with me. A little snow never hurt anyone," Jack persisted.

Crutchie started to turn red. He would've preferred to stay inside, where it was warm with no risk of getting hurt, but Jack wasn't going to give up. He obviously wasn't leaving without Crutchie, so he gave in. "Fine..."

"Great! Let's go!" Jack jumped from the chair with Crutchie following. As soon as they got outside, the cold, winter air overcame them and Crutchie wished that he was back inside the warm Lodging House.

"Just nothing to extreme, ok?" asked Crutchie.

"Of course." Jack smiled. He had successfully gotten Crutchie to come outside. Now he just needed to make sure he had an unforgettable day.

* * *

"Hate to break to ya Jack, but how are we supposed to have fun in a junkyard?" asked Crutchie. He wasn't expecting to be led to here. It smelled like crap and it always creeped him out. There was piles of trash everywhere and possibly a person who called this home. Crutchie suddenly became scared. What if someone came out and attacked them?

Jack could sense his brother's worry and smiled at him."We are gonna make sleds!"

"With what?" asked Crutchie, looking around at the mostly useless junk.

"I dunno, just dig around. We'll eventually find something to use." Jack already started to rummage around the nearest pile.

After a few minutes of digging around in piles and getting Jack out of a net he had somehow got stuck in, they gathered the things they would need for a two-person sled. They had found one ski and a bent pipe for the runners, a few sides of a wooden crate for seats, and a small rope to hang on too. Jack was convinced it would work. Crutchie, on the other hand, wasn't so sure.

"Is this even gonna be safe Jack?" he asked Jack as he set down the now completed sled at the top of a hill.

"Sure it is, let's try it!" Jack motioned for Crutchie to sit on the front seat. Crutchie tentatively sat down, holding his crutch. Jack sat in the back of the makeshift sled and pushed off.

Down they went, faster than intended. Jack let out a loud holler. He swore he saw Crutchie smile and even yell a little. Jack was happy that he got Crutchie to enjoy winter a little more. They still had so many things to do and Jack couldn't wait to do all of them. Jack snapped back into reality from his daydream when Crutchie screamed his name.

"Jack! Turn right! Turn right!" cried Crutchie. Jack clearly didn't see the large tree that was approaching pretty fast. All of a sudden, Jack veered right and made it around the tree. The momentum from the turn kept going; the sled stood on its side and toppled over, sending both boys rolling down the remainder of the hill.

 _"Great,"_ thought Jack, as he sat up and brushed the snow off of him. _"Crutchie will just wanna leave now. He's gonna be so mad."_ Jack got up to find Crutchie lying down in the snow with the now broken sled close by. "Crutchie! You ok?" Jack called, running to his friend.

"Yeah," he replied, allowing Jack to help him up and hand him his crutch. "Maybe enough sledding..." he added.

"Yeah, think fast!" Jack threw a snowball at Crutchie, landing on his shoulder.

"It's on Cowboy!" Crutchie made a snowball and chucked it at Jack's face. Jack fell backwards and smiled. He was just thankful that his friend hadn't ditched him from the whole sled incident. He was happy that he actually participating instead of staying off to the side. Jack felt another snowball hit his leg, and threw another at Crutchie. They both threw snowballs at each other until their arms were sore.

"Gosh, my arms have never been that sore in a long time," said Crutchie, rubbing his arms.

"I hope you still have some energy left, we still need to ice-skate!" Jack said happily.

* * *

Jack and Crutchie had to make a quick stop at the Lodging House to grab some ice-skates.

"Ya sure ya don't wanna stay here?" Jack teasingly asked.

"No way!" Crutchie exclaimed, grabbing his pair of skates and handing Jack his pair.

The boys walked until they found a small pond, perfect for skating. They sat on the wooden bench and put on their worn-out skates. Jack got his on right away and ran of to the pond, well, attempting to run in skates.

Crutchie finished getting his on when Jack was already on the pond. His smile turned upside down when he realized that he couldn't skate; it would be pretty hard with his bum leg. "Jack," he called out to Jack, "I'm not sure if this will work."

"Well, let's make it work. I'll help you," Jack said, coming back to the bench where his friend still sat. He helped Crutchie stand up and he put his arm around Jack's shoulder. When they made it to the pond, Jack skated slowly so he wouldn't end up dragging Crutchie all the way. After a few minutes of getting almost nowhere, Crutchie slipped, bringing Jack down with him.

"Jack, this just won't work. I'll keep making ya fall," Crutchie said, standing up with the help of Jack. "I'll stay on the bench and you keep skating. I don't wanna stop you from having fun."

"No, I took you out here so _you_ could have fun." Jack paused. "I have an idea." Jack skated back to the bench, leading Crutchie along. "Give me your skate." Crutchie did what Jack instructed and handed him the skate. Then Jack took his crutch that was lying in the snow and tied the worn-out skate at the bottom. "This could work better. It might be a little loose, but I think I tied it tight enough," Jack said as he helped Crutchie stand and gave him his crutch.

"I swear I'm gonna kill you if I die, Jack," Crutchie teased his best friend who was helping him get to the ice. It seemed like forever until they actually made it. "So, how do I exactly go," asked Crutchie. He just stood at the edge of the pond, trying to balance and not fall.

"Just try moving your crutch-skate foward, then your other leg," Jack demonstrated with a nearby stick he had found.

"Like this?" Crutchie started to awkwardly move foward. His crutch slipped from under him and he fell, landing with a loud thud.

Jack skated over to where the boy fell. "Not quite, just try it again. You'll get it!" He helped Crutchie up and get his balance. They spent the next 20 minutes making Crutchie a master at skating, only falling one other time.

"Lookit me Jack! I'm actually skating!" Crutchie cried out happily, skating by Jack. Jack smiled. He was glad Crutchie joined him and was actually having fun. They really needed to get going though, Jack still had other activities planned and he wanted to get to all of them.

"C'mon Crutch, let's go somewhere else," he called out to his friend, still having a blast skating.

"Do we gotta? This is so fun!" Crutchie made his way to Jack even though he wanted to continue skating.

"We can come back later." Crutchie eventually gave in and let Jack lead him to the next destination.

* * *

The boys arrived at a big, open area. Jack thought it would be perfect to build forts here. "Let's have a fort building contest. We get half an hour and whoever's is better wins."

"Ok, wins what?" asked Crutchie.

"Bragging rights. On your marks, get set, go!" Both of the boys scrambled over to their own area and started working on their fort. Twenty-five minutes into it, Jack's roof collapsed with him inside of it. Crutchie laughed at the snow-covered boy, who threw a snowball at him in response. The thirty minutes shortly stopped and Jack and Crutchie stepped back to admire their hard work. The forts looked pretty much the same, with the exception of Jack's collapsed roof, so Jack called it a tie.

"Whatever," Crutchie playfully shoved Jack. "I totally won, mine's in one piece."

"Shut up," Jack shoved him back into his fort, causing a chunk to fall off. "Now they're both broken."

"Well, I still get the bragging rights," Crutchie said. Jack rolled his eyes. He didn't care about stupid bragging rights.

"Wanna make a snowman together?" asked Jack.

"Yeah!" said Crutchie, already starting to roll a giant snowball on the ground. They made two more giant snowballs and stacked them on each other. They found two sticks for the arms, rocks for the face and buttons, and proudly declared his name as Sir Frederic II. After that, Jack and Crutchie made snowangels, lots of them. Around thirty each to be exact. Crutchie begged to go ice-skating again so they went back to the pond and stayed there until it was dark.

* * *

Back at the Lodging House, Jack made hot chocolate for the both of them. A perfect way to end a perfect day.

"Thanks for doing this Jack, it was so fun!" Crutchie said as he put a giant glob of whipped cream in his hot chocolate.

"Glad ya liked it, we should do it again sometime soon." Jack replied.

"We should do it every week!" Crutchie exclaimed, taking a sip of the hot chocolate and getting whipped cream all over his face.

"Maybe," Jack smiled. He was happy that Crutchie had wanted to do it again. He would gladly spend more quality time with his brother any day. Now that Crutchie had turned out to love the snow, there would be many more days like this. He definitely succeeded in giving Crutchie the best snow day ever.

 **Thanks for reading! Reviews are always appreciated. -Les Phansie**


End file.
